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Your Power
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Wikipedia article
{{Infobox song
| name = Your Power
| cover = Billie Eilish - Your Power (Official Live Performance).png
| alt = Cover art for the official live performance of "Your Power": a three-quarter profile of Billie Eilish. The cover art's upper edge contains an orange bar with text that reads "Official Live Performance"; below it is the song title, written in orange and in a cursive font.
| caption = Vevo's "Official Live Performance" cover
| type = single
| artist = Billie Eilish
| album = Happier Than Ever
| released =
| studio =
| venue =
| genre =
*Folk
* indie folk
| length = 4:05
| label =
* Darkroom
* Interscope
| writer =
* Billie Eilish
* Finneas O'Connell
| producer = Finneas O'Connell
| prev_title = Lo Vas a Olvidar
| prev_year = 2021
| next_title = Lost Cause
| next_year = 2021
| misc =
}}
"'Your Power'" is a song by American singer-songwriter Billie Eilish. She wrote the song with her brother Finneas O'Connell, who handled its production. A folk ballad accompanied by an acoustic guitar, "Your Power" is a plea for people to stop abusing their authority, mainly towards vulnerable women. Darkroom and Interscope Records released the song as the third single from Eilish's second studio album, 'Happier Than Ever' (2021), on April 29, 2021.
"Your Power" received positive reviews from music critics, who praised its subject matter. In the US, the song debuted at its peak position of number 10 on the 'Billboard' Hot 100: the highest chart entry during that week. "Your Power" reached the top 10 in singles charts for 20 other countries, including the UK where it received a silver certification. It peaked at number 6 on the 'Billboard' Global 200.
Eilish directed the music video for "Your Power", which premiered on the same day as the song's release. In it, she sings alone at the Simi Valley; during this, an anaconda wraps itself around her. Eilish revealed the first live rendition of the song in 'The Late Show with Stephen Colbert'. She included it in the set lists of a 2021 concert film and a 2022 world tour in support of 'Happier Than Ever'. Eilish also performed "Your Power" as part of political causes, such as in protest against the US Supreme Court decision to overturn 'Roe v. Wade'.
Background and release
Eilish released a snippet of "Your Power", a ballad with acoustic instrumentation, on April 28, 2021. Regarding the track, Eilish stated, "This is one of my favorite songs I've ever written. I feel very vulnerable putting this one out because I hold it so close to my heart. This is about many different situations that we've all either witnessed or experienced. I hope I can inspire change. Try not to abuse your power." In her 2021 British 'Vogue' cover story following the release of her single, the 19-year-old star talks her new song's "open letter to people who take advantage," body image, and sexual misconduct. In an official Vevo 'Happier Than Ever' interview, Eilish said that she chooses singles because of their lyrics rather than if the song "will be big". Regarding "Your Power", the singer expressed that the song felt like "very kind of middle ground for the album". According to her, she assigns "tang brown" color to both the song, and the album.
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A music video directed by Eilish herself premiered simultaneously with the song's release, on April 29, 2021. It marked the fourth time that she acted as director for her own music videos. With a duration of around four minutes, the video is set in a desert, specifically California's Simi Valley. It depicts Eilish on her own as she sings the lyrics on a mountainside and the camera slowly zooms in towards her. Later, an anaconda appears and slowly wraps itself around Eilish, as she utters the lines "Does it keep you in control? / For you to keep her in a cage?" Meredith B. Kile of 'Entertainment Tonight' interpreted the scene as a metaphor for how authority can feel constricting.
Music and lyrics
"Your Power" is primarily a folk balladfor Jordan Darville of 'The Fader', the song fell under the genre of indie folk. Sung with a falsetto vocal register, it has a minimalist production that emphasizes Eilish's vocal performance and starts with a seven-note melody. Her voice has a reverberating effect, and acoustic guitars serve as the song's instruments.
Critics observed a difference between its stripped-back sound and the sound of Eilish's older works. 'The Guardian's Alexis Petridis contrasted the production to what he described as the "electronic horror-movie soundtrack approach" of 'When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?' (2019), Eilish's debut studio album. He argued that "Your Power" drew stylistic influences from the music of Mazzy Star and Lana Del Rey. Other critics compared it to songs by the band America or singer Phoebe Bridgers based on its personal lyrics and subtle production.
The song is a plea for people to stop abusing their authoritymainly about men who take advantage of young and vulnerable women, but also about exploited teenage boys. "Your Power" explores the topics of domestic abuse, sexual harassment, and statutory rape. Its verses narrate an encounter that a high school student has with an older man, with whom she has sex. Four lines from the song read: "Does it keep you in control? / For you to keep her in a cage? / And you swear you didn't know / You said you thought she was your age." Eilish questions if the man feels any sense of regret about the relationship.
Eilish, who received significant levels of abuse during childhood, stops talking in third person during two lines to discuss her own experiences with exploitation. She sings about getting gaslit, talking about how she was conditioned to blame herself for someone else's "devil[ish]" behavior. "Your Power" also references abusive power dynamics in the music and film industries, as shown by the lyrics "Will you only feel bad if it turns out / That they kill your contract". However, Eilish stressed that the song is not about her, nor is it about a specific person from the music industry who exploited her, highlighting that the mishandling of authority is a ubiquitous phenomenon.
Chart performance
In the United States, "Your Power" entered the 'Billboard' Hot 100 at number 10 as the week's highest debut. The song marks Billie's third top 10 debut on the chart and fifth top 10 overall. The following week, "Your Power" plummeted to number 29, before further falling to number 54 in its third.
Accolades
Live performances
performing "Your Power" during her Happier Than Ever, The World Tour
On May 11, 2021, Eilish appeared in 'The Late Show with Stephen Colbert' for her first live rendition of "Your Power". Like with the music video, she performed the song in the middle of a desert. Accompanying her was her brother Finneas O'Connell, who played the acoustic guitar and provided additional vocals. The two also featured in an official live performance of the song for Vevo that premiered via YouTube on July 18, 2021. Kyle Goldberg directed the video, set in a narrow hallway lined with light brown curtains, and had it filmed all in one take.
After the album's release, Eilish performed "Your Power" in 'Happier Than Ever: A Love Letter to Los Angeles', a concert film that premiered on Disney+ on September 3, 2021. She included it in the set list of the ongoing Happier Than Ever, The World Tour, which began on February 3, 2022. Eilish, who used the song as the tour's midpoint interlude, sat down with Finneas to sing together and play acoustic guitars. "Your Power" appeared in Eilish's headlining sets for three music festivals: Life Is Beautiful in 2021, and Coachella and Glastonbury in 2022.
Eilish also dedicated live performances of the song to express her views on political causes. As part of the worldwide "Stand Up for Ukraine" rally on social media, she sang it with Finneas in support of Ukrainian peoples displaced due to the 2022 Russian invasion. During that year's Glastonbury Festival, Eilish performed "Your Power" in defiance of the US Supreme Court's decision to overturn 'Roe v. Wade', a landmark case that had made abortion a constitutional right in the country.
Credits and personnel
Credits adapted from Tidal.
* Billie Eilish vocals, songwriter, vocal engineer
* Finneas producer, songwriter, engineer, acoustic guitar, drum programming, percussion, synth bass, synthesizer, vocal arranger
* Dave Kutch mastering engineer
* Rob Kinelski mixing engineer
Charts
Weekly charts
Year-end charts
Certifications
Release history
References
Notes
{{notelist |30em |refs=}}
Citations
Category:2020s ballads
Category:2021 singles
Category:2021 songs
Category:American folk songs
Category:Billie Eilish songs
Category:Folk ballads
Category:Song recordings produced by Finneas O'Connell
Category:Songs written by Billie Eilish
Category:Songs written by Finneas O'Connell
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